Abolition of height requirement for PNP, BFP, BJMP pushed

CEBU, Philippines - The ‘decades of discrimination’ in the Philippine National Police will soon come to an end as the House of Representative passed on third and final reading last week House Bill No.6203 which abolishes the height requirement for the police, fire and jail personnel.

Under Republic Act 6975, male applicants must stand at least 5’4” while female applicants must be at least 5’2” to be accepted for the recruitment.

Cebu Rep. Pablo John Garcia, chairman of the House committee on public order and safety, said the proposed law defends that height requirement is not a rational basis for those who want to become members of the PNP, Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP).

Garcia, principal author of the bill “Police, Fire and Jail Height Equality Act of 2012”, said that initially, only the BFP expressed support for the measure among the three concerned agencies.

In its position paper, the BFP coined the term “heightism” to refer to law enforcement agencies’ preference for taller people.

In the case of the BFP, Garcia said they consider it an asset for fire fighters to be shorter.

During the committee hearing, Garcia said the police asked that the height requirement be lowered, not abolished.

However, the officials who spoke in behalf of the PNP did not have “scientific basis” to set the minimum height.

“What difference will a few inches make? The most important skills needed for police officers to do their job well do not have anything to do with height. These include investigation, judgment under pressure and community relations,” Garcia explained.

“We’re not excluding taller people here, we’re just including shorter people. If we want to reform our police force, we should broaden our pool of talent available for recruitment,” Garcia further said.

The bias also includes the belief that taller persons are stronger. But Garcia said that the physical examination will determine who are not strong enough to be police officers.

Garcia is hopeful that his bill will be enacted into law before both houses of Congress adjourn in January 2013 for the campaign.

Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 director Marcelo Garbo welcomes the development.

Garbo said having height as a requirement could not attract more applicants as most Filipinos are “small”.

 “This would not cause disadvantage. What matters is we have other requirements like the capabilities of the policemen, eligibility, medical exam, and neuro exam,” Garbo said in a phone interview.  (FREEMAN)